Comparison of two child seats subjected to a regulatory side impact regarding biomechanical criteria associated to the newborn

ABSTRACT The new Regulation 129 is a keystone in child safety as child restraint systems are now evaluated in side impact tests with Q-dummies. Research works have, nevertheless, shown that regulatory assessment criteria are not well correlated with head injuries. As a consequence, the present study aims to compare two child seat versions regarding biomechanical criteria associated to the anatomical head–neck system of the newborn. The main results show that the enhanced child seat leads to significative lower brain loading under regulatory test configuration.